The Last Supper
Sermon by CH (CPT) Keith J. Andrews
1 Corinthians 11:27-34
All Scripture marked NKJV: The New King James Version. 1996, c1982 (1 Co 11:23). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Nearly five years after the 9-11 attacks people continue to argue about how to memorialize the people who died in the World Trade Center in New York. On the 13th of March construction workers began to build the memorial.
According to the BBC, the winning design was selected from 5,201 submissions. The footprints of the twin towers will contain two reflection large pools. Ramps will give access to memorial spaces around pools, where names of dead engraved and a staircase will gives access to artifact displays, an exhibition area and library. There will also be space for memorial services and room for unidentified remains.
How we memorialize someone is a very important aspect in how we look back and remember their life.
This comes into play when we think of the Lord’s Supper.
In my concrete mind, I have always been uncomfortable with the Lord’s Supper. For years, I have been in church after church, who went through the motions of the Lord’s Supper simply because it was commanded to. The Lord’s Supper became as stale to me as the bread that was served.
It wasn’t until I began pastoring and leading in ministry that I began to reevaluate the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. I read articles and theological books on why it was important. My thought was, why are we wasting our time with this little ritual? I like to plan services that are meaningful and that ultimately lead people to know God in a real and personal way.
That is when I began to understand that the Lord’s Supper is much more than just a ritual—it is proclamation. The Lord’s Supper is worship—
John Piper writes:
“Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth.” (Desiring God, p. 92)
When we remember what Christ accomplished on the Cross, we are reflecting back to God’s glory in the cross. This was the central moment of God’s love for us.
The Bible says;
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. (1 Cor. 11:26, NKJV)
When we take of the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim His death—we share with God the good news! You say, “God already knows the good news”, that is true, but that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t like to hear it again and again. We also share it with each other, reminding each other of the great God that we have and how he sent his son to die on the cross for us. Each of us are sinners, the Bible teaches that sin is anything that you think, say, or do that makes God unhappy. The Bible also teaches that the punishment for this sin is death and that His son died on a cross to pay that penalty in our place.
Today, you may be here and wish to accept the payment Jesus paid on the cross for you. This payment is available, we must simply accept it.
Through the Lord’s Supper, we remind each other of that price He paid for us.
Given such importance, I think that we would agree that we should look at the Lord’s Supper differently. The Lord’s Supper should not be taken lightly but with all of the honor and dignity expected at the remembrance of Christ’s Death on the Cross.
So, tonight I want us to take a few minutes to hear what Paul has to say about the Lord’s Supper.
Take your Bibles and open them to 1 Corinthians 11: 27. If you don’t have a Bible with you—there is one under your seat. 1 Corinthians 11:27 is found on page 1020.
Paul is writing this passage in his letter to the Corinthians because they are not taking the Lord’s Supper seriously. It has become a party for them. Paul explains in verse 30, that the Corinthians are to the point of making themselves sick—in effect bringing upon themselves God’s supernatural judgment for completely misusing the Lord’s Supper.
In 1 Corinthians 11:20-22, Paul gives us some clues of what was happening.
The members began having a fellowship meal followed by the Lord’s Supper. In the case of the Corinthians they were making it into a wild party. The food would be brought in and some would rush to the table and fill themselves up while others would go hungry. At the same time some would become drunk with the amount of wine they consumed. Paul takes the people to task for their behavior. He scolds them in verses17-22. He then retrains the people how to conduct themselves during the Lord’s Supper.
He first tells then to not take the Lord’s Supper Lightly.
1 Corinthians 11:27;
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. (1 Cor 11:27, NKJV)
Paul teaches that the Lord’s Supper should not be taken unworthily. We should not just “check the box” or simply get it over with—we should not take it lightly. We should take it seriously.
The Corinthians were making a mockery of the Lord’s Supper by their attitude and their behavior. They were making the Lord’s Supper a party, without regard to its intended meaning.
The Lord’s Supper is a time of remembrance of the sacrifice that Jesus paid. Jesus celebrated the supper before he was betrayed, He took the time to reflect and to teach us to reflect upon what was about to happen, and for us what did happen.
This is not to be taken lightly, should we rejoice—absolutely, should there be excitement, but there is also the element of reverence for the death of our Savior, reverent enough for us to take it seriously.
The Lord’s Supper is a commanded part of worship. And the principles for partaking of the Lord’s Supper are the same the principles of Worship in general.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism reads;
The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
If our chief end is to worship God, shouldn’t we take it seriously?
If you are a leader, shouldn’t you take leading seriously?
If you are a preacher, shouldn’t you take preaching seriously?
If you are a human, shouldn’t you take worshiping God seriously?
Too many times in our worship, we go through the motions expecting for someone to give us something—we try to find what we can get out of worship. The problem is—is that it is not about us.
The people at the Lord’s Supper are stumbling over one another to get to the food first, so they can get their fill—while others are going hungry. They were all wrapped up in themselves.
When we get wrapped up in our own pleasures and take our hearts off the giver of pleasure, we miss the target. We enjoy ourselves, rather than enjoy God and His glory and majesty.
We are to take the Lord’s Supper with the seriousness that it deserves.
Paul then tells the Corinthians that they need to examine themselves before you take of the Lord’s Supper.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (1 Cor 11:28, NKJV)
The Lord’s Supper is a time of examination of our own spiritual life. It is a time of remembrance, but it is also a time of looking deep into your own soul and seeing what is corrupting your worship and daily walk with God.
I was reading an introduction of a book by Leslie Rule. The introduction was written by her mother, Ann Rule, who is well know for her “true crime” books. In that introduction she explains that the research done by her daughter is much like her own research she performs before writing a book.
When she writes, she looks at every piece of evidence of the crime. Then, she begins to reconstruct the criminal’s life and the victim’s life to the extent that many have told her that she know the person better than anyone else—maybe more than the person themselves. She takes time to examine the people involved.
How well do you know yourself? Do you know where you are spiritually? I’m not asking you how you measure up to someone else’s checklist. There are many people out there that have many different ways to follow Christ—but God made you an individual. How are you doing in your spiritual walk? Are you closer to him today than you were yesterday? Do you have a great appreciation for the cross than you did yesterday?
We must be examining ourselves to know how we are growing in Christ—like little children, we all grow at different speeds and have different gifts, but we all need to grow.
Paul then says that the Lord’s Supper is a community affair. Not just one of the individual.
33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come. (1 Cor 11: 33-34, NKJV)
We are to come together for the Lord’s Supper. It is a time of fellowship and worship. In the spirit in which the first “Lord’s Supper” was taken, it was a time when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and taught them about respect.
When we were younger, most of our parents taught us something about etiquette. Etiquette, I believe, is becoming a lost art. Slowly, it is being ignored as not important, archaic, and in some cases sexist. The military is one of the few institutions that teach a form of etiquette—we call it “customs and courtesies.” The truth of the matter is—etiquette is the art of treating people the way you would want to be treated. Or simply, treating others with respect.
In our society, we have become so self centered and lazy, that we don’t desire to treat others respectfully. We have a problem when people tell us to turn our music down. We have a problem waiting in line. We have a problem allowing others to go first to get chow.
Paul is very upset with the people of the Corinthian Church, primarily for this reason. They are fighting over the food—some gorging themselves, while others are going hungry. He says that they need to stop that nonsense. They are completely ignorant of etiquette. They are thinking only of themselves.
Do we need make etiquette a religious standard? No, but the point is that we need to be intentional about being respectful to others—that is a religious standard.
This is the same attitude that we need to have for the Lord’s Supper—one of service and respect for those that are worshiping with us. We need to take the opportunity to include those that are present with us in worship.
The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is not to get fed—the purpose is to remember the cross. Jesus shed his blood as a sacrifice for us…we should be the people in the world who willingly sacrifice for the others around us.
Respect comes from a servant’s heart. Jesus was being a servant when he washed the disciples’ feet. This is how he showed respect for them.
Jesus on the cross paid the penalty for our sin—we should be willing to be servants to the world as well.
I was reading the other day about the last season of the Sopranos. Somebody is publishing a cook book in honor of this occasion. Apparently, on the last episode, they are going to feature the last supper, they all have together.
On the TV show, Survivor, the tribes all meet together for a last supper before somebody gets voted off the island.
When I was a camp counselor, we always ended the season with a Staff Banquet held on the last night before we went home.
Last Suppers are important for many reasons. Sometimes they are the last time we are going to see our friends. Sometimes it marks the end of a period of time that will change the moment the dinners is over—people will go their separate ways. Life will not be the same again.
This is what Jesus was feeling at his last supper. It was important to him. The disciples had no clue what was about to take place. Jesus was patient and took time to explain some things about how it would never be the same again.
Paul writes;
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. (1 Cor 11: 23-26, NKJV)
Let us pray.
